83: The Battle of Waterloo 1815

Send me a messageSign up to my free weekly history newsletterThe Battle of Waterloo, fought in 1815 saw the final defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte.At the end of the 8 hour struggle nearly 50,000 dead and dying men lay on the battlefield.Whilst celebrated (in Britain) as a British victory, it’s often forgotten that Wellington’s army was an international army containing Dutch, Belgians & germans. In fact the British troops were actually in the minority.And despite his victory, Wellington was the first to admit that the battle was a near-run thing; the result could have been very different.Intriguingly, the battle pitted two formidable generals, both born in 1769, against each other - Napoleon Bonaparte and the Duke of Wellington.Support the show